Pink Fletching
by VampirePaladin
Summary: A new universe created by Madoka has been born.  How will the lives of Homura, Mami, Kyouko and Sayaka play out in this second chance? Prologue up.
1. The End of Time

Author's Note: I don't own anything from Madoka Magica, it belongs to Shaft. I do own this story though.

Madoka had bid her farewells to Homura and returned her to the world. Now, it was time for her to remake the universe. She was not going to change much. First, she would remove the wishing system. Then, she would make sure that humans would still advance without it. Without that horrible system, all girls would be safe from the despair of being Puella Magi.

She was about to begin her work when something caught her attention. Being in all of time and space was new to her so she didn't notice it at first. She willed her concentration to focus on that one point.

Her spiritual body was now on a barren piece of rock. There was only a single star in the sky. It glowed red, a red giant. It was the only star left that still gave off heat. Even it only had a little more left in before it too was gone. She could feel only a single life force here. She made herself a bit more solid. A wraith of a girl drifted invisibly through the ruins of what was once a beautiful city. Without a single step she passed through streets and buildings.

Her destination was a laboratory. Without being able to put into words what anything there was, she still knew what the purpose of each instrument and tool. There was a single small white creature working.

The little white creature was the last living being left. Someone used to having many bodies only had one. She had been told once that emotions were considered a mental disorder to his kind. Now, she felt the fear and desperation that finally was overwhelming him.

"You never felt anything for those girls, but you really were trying to save the universe." Madoka gave a soft smile. "Not even you deserve this despair."

Insubstantial hands reached out to comfort him. His face looked up and turned away from his work. Red eyes stared right at where Madoka would have been if she were solid. Madoka smiled at him. The creature turned back to his work. She could hear in her mind as he talked to himself and tried to work out a solution.

Madoka let herself fade out and went back to her own work. No, she wouldn't remove the Puella Magi. She would not allow it to exist as it once had. There had to be another way. Slowly an idea formed in her mind. The system would be allowed to exist mostly as it had. Now, instead of witches there would be a new creature that would be born directly from the despair of humanity of a whole. Yes, this would be better. They would drop something similar to grief seeds to let soul gems be cleansed. Then energy could be taken from these instead.

Madoka nodded, content. This was not perfect. Now she knew, that nothing ever really was. This new system would keep the Puella Magi as human, but would still allow the harvesting of energy.


	2. Yesterday Again

Homura woke to the sensation of stiffly starched sheets against her skin. The only thing she could smell was sterility. Her purple eyes opened to be greeted with the golden sunshine coming in through the very blurry window. She reached her hand out and grabbed the familiar red glasses off of the nightstand. Once they were in place the window was no longer blurry.

Excitement began to rise in her. Today she was finally being discharged from the hospital. She would be able to go back to school. It was so lonely here with everyone else being either an adult or a young child. Maybe, she would wow everyone at her triumphant return. She would be the dark haired mysterious girl that was perfect in school and athletics that everyone loved. Homura could visualize her fantasy so clearly that she giggled.

Her laughter stopped. It had sounded foreign and artificial to her ears. It was like she had forgotten how to laugh, or at least like she had not done so in months. That was impossible. She had been laughing yesterday when watching Minako's new music video was. It had been a hilarious romantic video, possibly her favorite one yet.

She decided to just ignore it and got out of bed. It would be best to forget the weird laugh. Her feet carried her across the floor to the bathroom. The feel of the hot water against her pale skin felt wonderful. She scrubbed at her body likeit was covered in a city's worth of dirt. When she finished she dried herself off with a threadbare towel before changing into her normal clothing. She dried out her dark hair, brushed it and then put it into her customary braids.

When everything was over she examined herself in the mirror. She always wore her hair in braids, but it looked odd to her. After unbraiding, brushing again and braiding, she examined her reflection. It just looked off to her. She could not figure out what was wrong. After a third try she finally gave up and decided to settle for how her hair looked.

A moment of curiosity overtook her. She slid her glasses down her nose to try and see what she would look like without them. However, her vision was just so poor without her glasses that she looked like a pink and black blob in the mirror. Homura sighed. She would see about switching to contacts the next time she went to the optometrist.

Homura left the bathroom to start the process of her discharge. She filled out mind numbing form after mind numbing form. It included all the information about her medications and follow up visits. The entire time she could not shake the feeling of déjà vu.


	3. Small Victories

The ground beneath her was filthy. Wrappers ranging from candy to condoms lay scattered in the random pattern the wind had blown them into. A sticky blob, the color of stale diarrhea, was only a foot away from her toes.

She did not notice any of that.

Mami sat on the ground, her back against the uneven wall. Her stocking clad knees were pulled up to her chest and she cried on them. She made little noise as the salty water slowly caressed her cheeks and then dripped off. Her nose was starting to run too.

Mami never cried at school. She never cried in front of the other magical girls. Of course she never cried when fighting the demons. Sometimes, after a particularly hard fight or if she felt especially lonely, she would cry like this. Right now she looked more like a pathetic pet then a calm and collected magical girl she presented herself as.

She let herself cry for a few more minutes before she looked at the golden soul gem surrounded by small cubes. It shone clear and bright, cleansed of the impurities using magic caused. She picked it up and willed it to morph into its ring form. After replacing it on her finger, she stared at the name written in runes. Mami gave a small smile. A white handkerchief was all it took to erase the evidence of her little breakdown.

It did feel better to let her feelings out, even in private. If she kept them in then eventually she would be pulled down by the despair of her life. That would simply not do. She was a magical girl with no small amount of experience and skill. Even if she had to occasionally break down in private, she would keep going.

With her resolve restored, she stood up and left her alley. One white shoe moved in front of the other. Each step was elegant, but strong. A few minutes later she did stop walking, but that was only because she had come to an intersection and was waiting for the light to change.

Across the street was a girl in a lace lined pink dress. Mami did not know why, but it made her smile. Her golden eyes followed the girl as she walked down the street. Her attention snapped back to the street as a car honked its horn.

There was a black kitten crossing the street. It had stopped as the car careened toward it. The feline seemed to be frozen like a statue. With a car coming from the opposite direction and sidewalks lining the street, there was no chance of the driver being able to avoid the kitten.

Her ring glowed briefly as she used magic to speed herself up temporarily. Mary Janes barely touched the concrete. She dove low. The wind of the car blew her hair as she straightened herself on the other sidewalk. A small black cat was in her hands.

The little furball purred. Mami looked down at it. She did not know what possessed her to save it. It was the sort of useless gesture she would have told another magical girl to avoid. Well, she could not exactly go back in time and scold herself. Besides, maybe her apartment would not feel so empty with a cat anyways.


End file.
